


Defsoul's Moving Castle

by got7stories



Category: GOT7, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types, JJ Project, jjp - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Tales of the Three Kingdoms, Insecure Park Jinyoung (GOT7), Jealous Im Jaebum | JB, M/M, Mentioned GOT7 Ensemble, Mentioned Monsta X Ensemble, Mentioned TWICE Ensemble, Possessive Im Jaebum | JB, Shy Park Jinyoung (GOT7), Soft Im Jaebum | JB, Soft Park Jinyoung (GOT7), Sweet JJ Project
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/got7stories/pseuds/got7stories
Summary: Wizard Defsoul Lim Jaebeom, whose power mysteriously rose more and more after a night full of shooting stars illuminated the sky on his fifteenth birthday, departed from Goryeo on a smart flight across the peninsula. Every now and then, he was seen travelling on the countryside from Baekje to Silla with an intricate, magical means of transportation, that could appear for just a few moments and turn invisible again. Eyewitnesses called it Defsoul’s Moving Castle.
Relationships: Im Jaebum | JB/Park Jinyoung, Lim Jaebeom/Park Jinyoung
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is an ongoing birthday present to myself^^

**D** **EFSOUL’** **S**

**M** **OVING** **C** **ASTLE**

**Prologue**

Once upon a time of the Three Kingdoms, the biggest kingdom, Goguryeo, fell from within like a house of cards and was overtaken by military power under prominent General Wang, who founded Goryeo in its place.

General Wang, who became power-hungry, soon fell victim to Witchcraft and Wizardry taught by his mentors, Monsieur JYP and Jung Wook, but converted to the alluring Dark Side of it, when he was outwitted by them in a manoeuvred coup d’état and banned from Goryeo to a far away waste land, later called the Wang Land. Jung Wook became self-proclaimed King and Monsieur JYP the King’s Hand. In a cruel twist of fate, power-ridden Monsieur JYP converted to the Dark Side, too, and made King Jung Wook his puppet, while he held the strings as the puppeteer mastermind, influencing every decision regarding the affairs of state at his own will. Within a few years, Kingdom Goryeo declared war on the other two of Three Kingdoms, Baekje and Silla.

Not happy with the decision of his mentor, Monsieur JYP’s best disciple, Wizard Defsoul Lim Jaebeom, whose power mysteriously rose more and more after a night full of shooting stars illuminated the sky on his fifteenth birthday, departed from Goryeo on a smart flight across the peninsula. Every now and then, he was seen travelling on the countryside from Baekje to Silla with an intricate, magical means of transportation, that could appear for just a few moments and turn invisible again. Eyewitnesses called it Defsoul’s Moving Castle.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung was the youngest son of three children of the infamous Hatter Park in the Silla Kingdom, and the only one willing to take over the family business, when the father died.
> 
> Jinyoung meets the Wizard Defsoul and the Wizard of the Wang Land.
> 
> There are cameos of Hyunwoo, Wonho, and some Twice members, if you blink.

**Chapter One**

Jinyoung was the youngest son of three children of the infamous Hatter Park in the Silla Kingdom, and the only one willing to take over the family business, when the father died. His oldest sister Boyoung was more interested in becoming an apprentice at a confectionery, and his older sister Soyoung tried to follow their mother’s footsteps by finding herself a new man to marry, so she could move out of their old home and out of the lasting memory that once was their modest family.

Being the only one left at their family house, Jinyoung had to learn doing everything on his own, from weaving, sewing and selling the hats, to being an accountant, to cleaning the millinery and the home above, and to preparing his own meals, although he was bad at cooking, hated and avoided it to his best ability. The most difficult thing, however, was, to learn how to live alone. Once he got used to it, after being forced to do so, he learned, that desolation was hard to overcome by himself.

With a heavy heart, he started his morning each day by opening the millinery and taking his seat at the sewing table, remembering the smile of his father, that once greeted him from the very same place. Blinking tears away, he opened the window across the table by dislodging wooden beams to let his eyes dry by a gentle wind breeze.

The sun above the far hills had risen and threw bright sunlight upon the early busy capital of Silla. Horses of royal carriages were loudly galloping across the main street, transporting taxes of the farmers in form of harvest to the palace. The horses were so loud, that Jinyoung could hardly hear the baker shouting the names and prices of his freshly baked goods to a crowd of inhabitants dressed in neat, colourful Hanboks and black diaphanous hats, probably woven by Jinyoung’s father.

“Ah, right…” Jinyoung remembered, completely having lost his perception of time, while he started to get trapped in his new routine of home, work, home, work, home. “Today is the start of the Harvest Moon Festival.”

At least that would guarantee some customers for him, he thought. There were always some people around this time of year, who needed new hats for the festivities, or people, who did some last day shopping for family or friends.

Jinyoung took a step back from the window and the city view and, before he turned around, he noticed the brick and clay houses started to be decorated with festive lanterns here and there.

Then, everything came to a halt and Jinyoung heard it, too.

A sharp, metallic noise piercing the air louder than the galloping of horses on the streets, louder than the baker’s voice and louder than the crowd of people.

First, he thought it was a bomb. But then, the deafening noise repeated and became periodic, louder, and grew closer, chasing a flock of birds away across the hills.

“Oh, look!” a young lady was heard screaming outside. Jinyoung startled but stuck curiously closer to the window. “It’s Defsoul’s Moving Castle!”

“Where? Where!” screamed a bunch of her friends.

Jinyoung’s heart stood still, as he, too, searched in the sky and on the hills. Jinyoung had never seen it, only knew about it from hearsay and thought it was just a beautiful fairy-tale told to children to encourage their imagination.

As if it, a monstrosity, was moving, the noise became less loud, turned quiet, and eventually disappeared into the background, passing him by. When Jinyoung’s eyes did not land on anything conspicuous in particular as the metallic noise grew further and further away, he retreated from the window with a heavy, disappointed sigh.

He did not even know, why he got his hopes up. It was probably one of Monsieur JYP’s warships getting into position. Some inhabitants on the streets said Goryeo was preparing for war with Silla. No wonder so many palace guards were patrolling the streets from dusk till dawn.

A creepy chill shook his body, but Jinyoung pulled himself together, calmed down and opened the shop for the day, taking his seat at the table and sewing on another hat, while he waited for customers.

“Maybe I should visit Boyoung at the confectionery later since it’s the Harvest Moon Festival. I should get some mooncakes.” Jinyoung thought, before he drowned himself in work.

At lunch time, five customers and three finished hats later, he closed the millinery for an hour to visit his oldest sister. He looked out the window to see if it were raining. The sky was still a bright blue with a few fluffy, white clouds covering parts of it. Just to be sure, he precautionarily wore his favourite hat, one of his own creations, and a long, thin, dark-green cloak coat.

He left by foot because the confectionery was within walking distance. He turned away from the main street and took a left to an alley to shorten his way, when he was confronted by two big, bulky palace guards.

“Hey Wonho, look what we’ve got here. Fresh meat,” one guard said to the other, throwing his hand up against the wall of a building and blocking Jinyoung’s route. “Oh my, you look so charming and handsome.”

With a rapidly beating heart and widening eyes, Jinyoung tried to calmly bypass him by walking around the guard. However, the guard called Wonho blocked that way, too.

“My, my, Hyunwoo, look what you’ve done,” he said and hit the first guard on the back, making Jinyoung fidget with the impact of the blow. “You’ve scared him. Awe cutie! There’s no need to be scared.”

“Hey, I saw him first,” said the guard called Hyunwoo. “Besides, that guard there is married,” he stage-whispered to Jinyoung.

“I am not. I still need someone to entertain me and clean my house. If my fiancé weren’t as pretty as he is, I would have dropped his lazy ass,” laughed the second guard and slowly, Jinyoung got scared, fear creeping into his bones. If he were not introverted and did not love peace, Jinyoung would have thrown the first blow. He knew he was able to do it, his father had taught him Taekwondo, when he was little. It was just, that that was years ago, and he was currently outnumbered by two trained guards, who beat up people for a living.

“Forget about him, where can I drop you off, Prince Charming?” said Hyunwoo with a bright, crook-eyed grin of his own.

Jinyoung answered with a brittle smile, inwardly he was fuming. “There’s no need, sir. I’m just on my way to visit my sister. It’s close-by.”

“Did you hear that, Wonho? Awe, so cute! And what a pretty voice you have! You can call me Hyunwoo, Charming. By the way, what’s your name?”

“Is your sister as cute as you are? Maybe we should come, too and pay her a visit,” said Wonho.

Jinyoung had enough. With trembling, clenched fists, he forced himself to protest.

“Sirs, please, I insist you let me go now. I have somewhere to be and someone to visit.”

The two guards laughed at him. “So polite! Well, since you _insist_ , we probably should…”

Jinyoung was about to get seriously furious, when another voice joined them from behind Jinyoung’s back.

“Sweetheart. There you are,” said a husky-velvety voice and Jinyoung turned instantly around.

“Excuse me?” said guard Hyunwoo and Jinyoung could not agree more.

“You are, my friend. And you are excused, too,” to the palace guards, said the most beautiful and handsome man Jinyoung had ever seen in his life.

He had mono-lidded, charismatic eyes with two beauty-moles under the left brow, as if he had a choice before he was born to choose from a set of taints and he went with the prettiest one there was. He had a sharp nose, hollow cheeks, a chiselled jaw, shimmering earrings, and long, silky, blond hair adorning the broadest pair of shoulders a man of Jinyoung’s figure could have; they seemed to be of similar height and weight, maybe the man had some centimetres on him. He was wearing a shiny, white blouse with a deep neckline revealing white porcelain skin beneath, while a pair of black trousers hugged his too thin waist compared to the shoulders, looking foreign and like a description of the bandits that Jinyoung read about in one of the many scrolls that he owned. Jinyoung was stunned. The man was ethereal.

“Sweetheart, I have been searching for you for _my whole life_.”

Jinyoung’s heart fluttered. No, this had to be a mistake. A confusion. This man was mistaking him for someone else. “Who, me?” Jinyoung looked around, but there was only him and the two guards.

The guards started to look mad and began flourishing their swords. “Excuse _you_ , but we saw him first,” said Hyunwoo.

“You seem to be mistaken. He belongs to me,” said the man with a sterner tone. Jinyoung may have fallen a little in love.

Comparing the man’s possessiveness to that of the bulky guards, Jinyoung was not disgusted.

Sensing the danger, the guards drew their swords high into the air threateningly, and the man was suddenly behind Jinyoung, laying one hand around Jinyoung’s waist and drawing him impossibly closer. Jinyoung could barely breathe with how fast things were going and moving, and how much _warmth_ this man was radiating off through that thin shirt.

The man snapped his ring-covered fingers of his free hand, which Jinyoung saw in his periphery in passing, by looking left, right, and left. “Off you go,” he said.

Next thing Jinyoung knew, was, that the guards automatically clapped their legs together and shut their mouths, sheathed their swords, turned around and marched off in synchrony.

Jinyoung’s eyes widened as realisation dawned on him. This was the wizard, Defsoul.

“Now that was fun,” said Defsoul with a smile, showing a pretty row of teeth. He was still holding onto Jinyoung’s waist, and this up-close, he looked even more handsome.

Jinyoung’s face grew warm.

Defsoul’s face fell, when he looked back at Jinyoung and their eyes met. “Oh no, I’m sorry about that, don’t be scared.”

“I… I’m not,” said Jinyoung. “Just surprised.”

“Don’t think too ill of those two, they’re basically harmless and good, hard-working people,” said Defsoul. He must have come quite around, if he defended strangers he saw for the first time, and could tell, what kind of people they were. Or maybe it was not his first time, after all. “Oh, okay.” Defsoul said and took Jinyoung’s free hand into his own, gripping him firmly, assuringly, and encouraging him to move forward. When their hands touched, Jinyoung felt a spark being transmitted through the skin connection. As if he had found a long-lost part of his soul. Jinyoung did not know, what was happening as they slowly started to run.

“Okay?” asked Jinyoung.

“Seems like the little bit of magic drew Monsieur JYP’s attention. His stalkers are following us.”

Jinyoung turned his head around to see, what those “stalkers” were, that were following them behind Defsoul’s shoulder.

“No, don’t look back!” Defsoul tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Misty dark creatures, liquidized to black masses that flowed through walls of buildings, taking the shortest routes through the streets and alleys to reach them at a neck-breaking speed. It looked like petroleum oil, that he lighted lanterns with, developed a life of its own, it looked like one of Jinyoung’s nightmares coming true.

Jinyoung shut his eyes fearfully, turning his head back around and hiding his face into the only thing available, Defsoul’s broad and warm shoulder. He smelled of aromatic oils and candles from the silk road, his scent was fantastic.

Embarrassed, for being scared and scenting the man, Jinyoung lifted his head, only to notice, how they were levitating above the ground, the black masses being left behind and colliding against each other from all cardinal directions. Jinyoung’s fear of heights struck and paralyzed him. He screamed.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’re doing great!” Defsoul encouraged him and the endearment started to melt Jinyoung’s heart. “Just move your feet forward, one in front of the other, straight-ahead, as if you were running. I’ve got you,” Defsoul talked at him with his sweet tongue and squeezed his waist and hand with his own.

Jinyoung broke into a sweat and breathed irregularly, but he did as told and held onto Defsoul for dear life. A few hundred metres into the air, Jinyoung looked back at Defsoul’s face and their eyes met again, two magnetic dark orbs enticing him.

“Hi,” said Defsoul like a long-lost friend, smiling ever so nicely.

“Hi,” Jinyoung mumbled back, laughing all of a sudden. He hoped he did not sound like a mad man.

“I’m Jaebeom, by the way. Lim Jaebeom.” What a fitting, beautiful name. This must be Defsoul’s real one, before he became a wizard.

“My name is Jinyoung,” he answered. “Park Jinyoung.”

“I know,” said Jaebeom mysteriously.

Jinyoung tilted his head at him. “You do?” He could not remember ever having met Jaebeom before this day.

However, Jaebeom remained silent to that and Jinyoung did not question him further.

Jinyoung shivered as the wind got colder and the air thinner, the higher they flew. He held onto his hat with the hand that was not held by Jaebeom’s, so it could not fly off with the next breeze.

Jaebeom rubbed Jinyoung’s waist with the hand that was holding him there, trying to give him more warmth, which was ridiculous, seeing that Jaebeom was barely wearing anything thick either. “Aren’t you cold, Jaebeom?”

  
“I’m good,” he said and shrugged with his shoulders. “Did a little heat spell,” he boasted vainly.

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. Not that he was not impressed. No wonder, that Jaebeom felt so warm. He was just surprised, that Defsoul Lim Jaebeom knew very well about himself, that he was a good-looking, capable wizard. He wondered, why the wizard did not put a heat spell on him, too.

“I would do one for you, you know. But I’m afraid you wouldn’t hold onto me so firmly anymore,” Jaebeom mumbled.

Jinyoung’s jaw fell. Did he hear that correctly? “Pardon, what?”

He could have sworn Jaebeom’s face became a little rosy after that. “Just kidding,” he said though. “Anyway, where can I drop you off? I’m sorry, I wasn’t going to get you involved in Monsieur JYP’s magical doings. It’s just a very unfortunate accident.”

Jaebeom looked sad, which broke Jinyoung’s heart a little.

“Oh no, it’s okay, really, it’s just new to me. I haven’t seen anything like that,” he said. “I was actually on my way to the confectionery to visit someone.”

Jaebeom’s grip around him tightened and he leaned his face closer to Jinyoung’s, to the point, that their noses almost touched. Jinyoung did not dare to pull back. He tried not to blink, when Jaebeom looked into his very soul.

“It’s not another handsome man or beautiful lady waiting for you there, is it?” Jaebeom asked him in his velvety voice. He let go of Jinyoung’s hand to stroke a strand of loose hair behind Jinyoung’s ear.

Jinyoung pulled his lips inwardly and chewed on them, trying not to burst out laughing into Jaebeom’s handsome face. Did Jaebeom really think, that he had a pretty partner waiting for him there? Who was he kidding?

Jinyoung took a calming breath and let go of his chewed lips. “No,” he managed to say and became embarrassed as he spoke. “I’m single,” he murmured.

“Really?” Jaebeom said in a small voice, stroking his jaw then and stopping at his chin, which he held between forefinger and thumb, tantalizing Jinyoung. “Any other answer would have broken my stolen heart, you know.”

Jinyoung’s own heart did a jump in its ribcage, before hammering so loudly that he was sure Jaebeom was feeling it through their contact, too.

He took another deep breath to calm down. “I was going to visit my sister, she works at the confectionery,” he mumbled like a shy teenage boy. His body was getting out of his own control, this was getting ridiculous.

Jaebeom’s smile widened. “All right,” he said and finally leaned back. “I’ll drop you off.” He faced the front straight ahead and slowly, they were descending again, till all the buildings didn’t look like tiny ants anymore but grew bigger into view.

Jinyoung closed his eyes again, he was still not over the height-part yet.

“It’s okay, Jinyoungah. I wouldn’t drop you off _like that_. Not for the world.” Jaebeom said and there was so much endearment in his voice, that Jinyoung was moved deeply.

Jinyoung opened his eyes and nodded at him, not managing to say anything else.

Carefully, Jaebeom let go of his waist and Jinyoung immediately grabbed both of his hands, squeezing them painfully, while Jinyoung started to choke up.

“Shush, it’s okay. We’re there, Jinyoungah. Don’t look anywhere else, focus on me, we’re landing.”

Indeed, Jinyoung’s feet touched the wooden ground of the confectionery’s balcony, before he knew it.

But his happiness about touching solid ground again was short-lived, because the time came, that he had to part from Jaebeom.

“Thank you, Jaebeom, for bringing me here, and for saving me from the guards.” He said politely, he did not know how to say goodbye. He never had, he hated farewells. Farewells for him meant that a loving person was leaving him, may it be for a short time, or forever.

“Don’t mention it, it was the least that I could do,” said Jaebeom just as politely and even bowed a little, which he answered naturally.

Then, Jaebeom retook Jinyoung’s right hand into his, lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of his hand and knuckles, while never breaking eye-contact with Jinyoung, making him blush beet-red.

“It was a pleasure to finally meet you, Jinyoung.”

“For m-me, too,” Jinyoung murmured. The warmth of Jaebeom’s lips and hand was unbelievable. He would miss him dearly.

“Please stay here in safety for a moment, while I deviate the attention of Monsieur JYP’s remaining stalker-spies outside.”

“Okay,” he said. “Be safe.”

Jaebeom nodded and let go of his hand, leaving a cold impression on his skin behind. He retreated backwards to the end of the balcony, without taking his eyes off of Jinyoung. There was a shadow of sadness flashing over his face for just a second, before it was gone, replaced by a handsome smirk.

“You’re cute, Jinyoungie,” he said. Then, he lifted his left arm, snapped the ring-loaded fingers of his hand, and dropped backwards into the air.

Jinyoung could not get himself to answer to that, even though a thousand thoughts were running through his mind. He could just look dazedly after him.

There flew his short-lived love story with the wind.

“Boyoung! Boyoungah,” screamed a male voice, that sounded like the pastry chef.

“I can’t right now, I’m busy with the customers! Chocolates for the gentleman, here you go, sir,” yelled the distinct voice of his sister.

“I think your brother just landed on the balcony! Boyoungah! Come up here!” yelled the chef back.

“My WHAT!”

“Ah!” screamed a female voice of another apprentice in a high tone. “I think I just saw Defsoul! He was flying outside our window! Oh my, he’s _so_ handsome!”

“Shut up, Sana, you saw shit,” said another female in a deeper voice.

“Awe, but it’s true,” said the first apprentice. “Why do you never believe me and deny everything I say on principle, Jungyeon? That’s not nice!”

“Because last week you said you saw a white fluffy bunny outside in the bushes and Nayeon, Momo and I spend two hours searching for it only to come up with nothing and land in a deep hole!”

“But there was a bunny!”

“Shut up, you also said it had a sandglass in its paws. At this point, I should have become suspicious now that I’m thinking of it.”

“It really had one, it was playing with it! Maybe one of our customers dropped it,” she wondered.

“Shut up. I’m having enough of your fantasies!”

“What’s wrong? Why is everybody screaming?” said a third female voice.

“Jihyo, Jungyeon is being mean to me,” whined the first apprentice.

“Jihyo, good that you’re here, Sana is telling lies again, but this time, she’s going too far. She says she saw Defsoul!”

“Hmm, it may be true,” said the third apprentice.

“What?” said the second one.

“Our chef was saying the same thing, said he saw him flying outside.”

“WHAT?”

“See!” said the first one.

“But girls, be careful, okay?” said the third one. “Rumour has it, that he steals hearts of naïve girls by ripping them out of their ribcage, because he is missing his own.”

Jinyoung froze. What did he just hear? Was he Defsoul’s next victim? He could not believe it.

“You mean literally or figuratively? Didn’t Park Jimin date him for a while? I’m pretty sure she is still alive; I will ask her.”

“No, she was his friend at one point in time, and yet, she has never been the same since then,” said the apprentice called Jihyo. It creeped Jinyoung out. He shuddered.

Did they really talk about the same, sweet person, that Jinyoung met just a few minutes ago?

“Jinyoung? Jinyoungah!”

Jinyoung turned around to see his sister running towards him with outstretched arms.  
  


“Boyoung,” he said and stretched his arms out, too, to take her tiny hands into his.

“Oh dear brother, what happened to you? Did you die and become an angel to descend onto our balcony like this?”

He smiled. “No, but I think I met an angel today.”

“Tell me all about it, but not here, where the other girls can hear us. Come, follow me,” said his sister. She led him deep into the confectionery and shoved him into the storage room, before assuring her chef, that the talk would not take too much time off of her worktime. Jinyoung was glad, that he was nice to her and even offered her a better room, but they said the storage was fine.

“Well, where do I start?” wondered Jinyoung, before his little adventure poured out of him like a waterfall and his sister looked at him with more and more concern.

“The girls said, that his aim is to steal hearts. Oh please, Jinyoungah, tell me you didn’t lose yours,” she said with desperation and squeezed his hands.

Maybe it was a little too late for that. But he did not dare to voice that thought out.

He could not see disappointment in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, Boyoung. I’m an ugly guy, he wouldn’t even want mine. He wouldn’t know what to do with it. Silla is full of pretty girls, why take mine, when the choice is big?”

“Jinyoungah, don’t say that. You are handsome. I don’t know why you always sell yourself for less than you are worth. Be more confident. Just not around that wizard.”

He sighed. “All right.”

“Maybe it would help, too if you used more face cream. To treat the wrinkles around your eyes, you know? Do you want some of mine? It works wonders.”

“Boyoung,” he whined.

“Okay, okay. Now give your big sister a hug before you leave, okay?”

He embraced her into his open arms and gave her a kiss on her head, which reached beneath his chin. “Happy Chuseok, sister.”

“Awe, happy Chuseok, brother.”

“Do you have some mooncakes for me?” he mumbled.

She retreated, took him by the hand and led him to the front of the shop with a big, proud grin. “Of course I have some mooncakes for my baby brother.”

He left the confectionery a few minutes later, after giving the pastry chef and the other apprentice girls his greetings.

When he was outside in fresh air, he scented it, to see if there were a difference, if the petroleum stalkers of Monsieur JYP left a stench behind. He could not smell anything. The coast was clear. No wizard visible either.

Maybe he just dreamt everything. Loneliness driving him insane to have a horrible, beautiful daydream.

He walked back to the millinery without further disturbances.

Though a little later than planned, he re-opened the shop and went back to work. He got six more customers in the afternoon, who stayed till late into the evening. He was already cleaning the millinery by swiping the floor with a broom after the last one left, when the doorbell jingled again and the door opened by magic-hand, letting a fresh breeze of night air in, together with his seventh customer, a dark-clothed mountain of a muscled man.

“We’ve already closed, please come back again tomorrow,” said Jinyoung.

“I want a new hat,” said the man in the deepest voice Jinyoung had ever heard. The strong aura took up the whole room within a blink of an eye.

“I said, please come back again tomorrow, sir. I’m closing the shop.”

“How dare you talk so rudely to me?” The man floated over the floor and, next moment, was talking into Jinyoung’s face. “Don’t you know who you’re talking to? When I say I need a new hat, then you give me one. The king is receiving me in audience tomorrow.” Jinyoung’s eyes widened. This man was a wizard, too, and Jinyoung was afraid he knew which one this was. He had heard rumours about him, about his looks and his voice. This was the great General Wang, or better known as the Wizard of the Wang Land. Inscrutably, General Wang’s eyes mirrored his own and widened, too, as he sniffed the air around Jinyoung.

“You smell like Defsoul,” General Wang said accusingly. His face deformed evilly and Jinyoung panicked, choking. “You’ve met Defsoul, where is Defsoul? I want Defsoul’s heart!” he screamed, as if possessed.

“I don’t know! He’s not here,” screamed Jinyoung and protected his face with his arms, cowering.

“Liar! You liar! Liars need to be punished. I, Jackson Wang, Wizard of Wang Land, curse you!”

A current of energy went down Jinyoung’s spine and his whole body trembled. Then, it was over.

Having calmed down, Jackson Wang went around him, inspected the shelf with the hats that Jinyoung had finished sewing today, took a black one out, and left a string of cowrie shells, as well as a few gold coins, on the sewing table.

“This is for the hat, and for the trouble. You won’t be able to talk to anybody about the curse. Every time you try, your lips will be sealed.”

Jinyoung did try to curse the man for cursing him with whatever this was, but, to his horror, his lips did seal up, as if glued together. Only, when he gave up speaking, did his mouth open and he inhaled deeply.

Jackson Wang laughed. “I’m sorry about that, but I’m not able to take the curse off you, I don’t know how. Only you know, how to break it by yourself.”

Jinyoung had no idea, what he was talking about. What kind of wizard did not know how to break their own curses?

“This is all Defsoul’s fault, for hanging around with mere humans. I don’t know, what he was thinking. On the other hand, you did look quite handsome. If you happen to see him again, give him my best regards and tell him that I will be waiting for him. He owes me his heart, after all.”

The door to the shop opened again, and with the next night-breeze, the Wizard of the Wang Land was gone.

The Jinyoung, that he left behind, was not the same anymore. It was an old, crippled, fragile version of his young self.


End file.
